


I Trust You

by DirtyanonsofThedas



Series: Story Prompts for Tumblr [10]
Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Blood Magic, Comfort, F/M, First Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-21
Updated: 2013-02-21
Packaged: 2017-11-30 00:26:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/693247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DirtyanonsofThedas/pseuds/DirtyanonsofThedas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Valentine's Day prompt from Tumblr for Theartistofsilence. Warden Gwennyth Surana is Sen's personal Warden.</p>
    </blockquote>





	I Trust You

**Author's Note:**

> Valentine's Day prompt from Tumblr for Theartistofsilence. Warden Gwennyth Surana is Sen's personal Warden.

Alistair couldn’t help but notice that Surana…no, _Gwennyth_ …put as much distance between herself and the surviving Circle mages as soon as they returned to Redcliffe. He had overheard her arguing with the First Enchanter on the way back, demanding to know how he had been so powerless as to allow **Blood Magic** to run rampant. He had recalled then the look of despair over each lifeless body they had come across and the looks of fury and betrayal when they encountered mages that attacked them.

He had not grown up in a Circle as she had but he understood firsthand what it was like to return to a place you considered your home and find it almost completely destroyed. That was exactly how he had felt upon returning to Redcliffe and finding the villagers cowering in fear and the castle overrun with walking corpses. Alistair knew he should try to find some way to comfort her yet knew he might it worse if he said the wrong thing. Doing just that is something he was known for. After what had happened at Ostagar, she had been the strong one, making the effort to help him overcome his grief. It weighted heavily on him that he couldn’t think of one single comforting word to help her but decided that even if the words didn’t come easily for him, he wanted her to see that she wasn’t alone.

Decision made, he searched the castle for her, avoiding the areas where the Knights were still collecting corpses. He eventually found her in the far end of one of the kitchens, slowly cutting herbs that he knew now to be elfroot after she had taken the time to show him back in Lothering. He stood in the doorway watching her, a little sad that she seemed to have lost a little of that overconfidence that he so admired about her because of all that they had gone through together.

“You don’t have to hover, Alistair,” she called out to him, startling him out of his thoughts, yet still continued to finely cut the herbs. “I’m perfectly fine.”

“I believed you the first time you said you were, Gwennyth,” replied Alistair as he crossed over to her.

That caused her to pause before turning him, sighing. “That’s because I am. And I told you to stop calling me that! Really, you don’t need to worry about me.”

“Who’s worried? I know you’re perfectly capable of taking care of yourself,” he said as he stood close to her. “And I’m not just saying that because you’re holding a knife!”

That brought a smile to her face finally and she placed the knife down alongside the herbs she had been working on. “How many times have I said I was ‘fine’ so far?” she asked shyly, only now too aware that he was standing closer to her than normal.

“Let’s see: you said it after we escaped from the Sloth demon; after we rescued the First Enchanter; on the boat ride back... right after you gave Irving a piece of your mind,” he said as he smiled down at her. “And once more when I interrupted you.”

Gwen looked down at his hands as he had used them to emphasize the amount of times she had repeated herself, letting it distract her from how she really felt. Truthfully she was far from fine. She was disgusted by everything she had witnessed today and saddened that her fellow mages thought that turning to Blood Magic would help them in any way. She was still reeling from the fact that her closest friend had hid the fact the he had also turned to Blood magic and used her to escape the Circle tower. She had hoped that in becoming a Warden, perhaps she could help people see that not all mages were the same. Now she just wasn’t so sure.

“I can see it in your eyes that something’s bothering you, Gwen,” Alistair said softly. “You told me once that I would feel better if I just spoke about what was bothering me and it really did. You were there for me when I needed someone the most and I want you to know that I’ll always be here for you,” he said shyly.

Gwen’s face flushed and she turned quickly to continue cutting the herbs, realizing then that she had cut them to the point that they were useless but continued only avoid looking at Alistair.

“Well, I appreciate it,” she said softly.

Alistair reached out and tried to take the knife out of her hands when she still continued to avoid looking at him but didn’t realize that her fingers were too close to the blade until she cried out in pain. Gwen dropped the knife and pulled back from him with her hand cradled close to her body. Alistair looked around frantically for a clean towel when she quickly moved away from him.

“Gwen,” he said in confusion as he tried to reach out to her again with the cleanest towel he could find. “It’s just a little blood!”

“I’m sure that’s what Jowan thought that got him started!” she said shrilly, yanking the towel out of his hands. “And all the other mages who turned to Blood magic! To them, what’s so harmless about just a little blood? What makes **me** so different?”

Alistair, at a loss, quickly moved closer to her and placed his hands gently on the sides of her face. “Because you would never resort to using blood magic to hurt anyone you cared about!”

Gwen looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “How could you know that, Alistair?”

He gently brushed the tears that fell and smiled reassuringly down at her. “Because you have a gentle heart,” he said and took her injured hand in his own. “I wish you didn’t have to go through all this because I know that each time, it hardens a part of your soul. Yet selfishly…I’m glad that you’re here with me.”

He hesitated after finally making his confession, focusing on dabbing at the cut he caused and waiting for her to say something in return as he clumsily tied the towel around her hand. He felt like a fool, babbling in his nervousness like always and blurting out the one thing that had been on his mind since he laid eyes on her at Ostagar. He looked up only when he felt her hand brush his cheek.

“There’s no place I’d rather be than at your side, Alistair,” she said softly.

Alistair couldn’t think straight with her blushing as beautifully as the first day he met her. He did the one thing he had dreamt about for months now but couldn’t decide if she even thought about him the same way. He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers and was delighted when she in turn, responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and leaned against him.


End file.
